


Pink Eye

by hondansadeensommar



Series: Multifandom Hurt/Comfort Oneshots [34]
Category: Cravity (Band)
Genre: Eye Trauma, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Infection, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Hyungs, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23923456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hondansadeensommar/pseuds/hondansadeensommar
Summary: "That’s pink eye…”
Series: Multifandom Hurt/Comfort Oneshots [34]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1385671
Comments: 3
Kudos: 102





	Pink Eye

Seongmin’s eyes were burning as he woke up, to the point that it was physically painful to force them open.“ _Yah_ … it’s time to wake up, _Peongmini_ …” Allen commented, gently shaking Seongmin’s shoulder.“You have school…”

Seongmin groaned, reaching up to rub at his eyes.“My eyes hurt…” he whined, forcing himself to sit up.Seongmin couldn’t help noticing that his eyes were watering, and he pulled his shirt up to his face to wipe at them.Seongmin could see something vaguely yellowish left behind on the black shirt, which he knew was likely a sign that the burning pain in his eyes was a symptom of something serious.“ _Hyung_ … are my eyes red?”

Allen stood back up from where he’d sat down to wake up Wonjin from his bottom bunk, turning back to Seongmin with a confused look on his face.“ _Aish_ … yeah, they are.You really shouldn’t rub them so much…”

“They’re burning…” Seongmin replied, shaking his head.“I think something is wrong… it feels like there’s something in them…”

“Come down here and let me look at them,” Allen replied, moving out of the way so that Seongmin could climb down from his bunk and be at the older man’s eye level.Allen held Seongmin’s chin still with one hand, gently moving Seongmin’s eyelid so that he could see if there was anything in his eye.“All I can see is some yellow gunk… I think you might have some kind of eye infection…”

Wonjin stood up too, moving to check Seongmin’s other eye.“ _Yah_ … you should both go wash your hands.That’s pink eye…” the older boy commented, grabbing Seongmin’s glasses from their usual spot on the windowsill and handing them over so that Seongmin would be able to see.Although he could see well enough to get around their dorm room without them, Seongmin’s vision was actually pretty bad.The fact that his eyes were watering and full of gunk certainly didn’t help, either.“You’ll have to go to the doctor, _Peongmini_ …”

“I’ll go let manager- _hyung_ know.I guess this means our _maknae_ gets the day off school,” Allen commented, gently ruffling Seongmin’s hair.

“ _Hyung_ … do you really think it’s pink eye?” Seongmin asked.

“Definitely,” Wonjin replied.“It’s _very_ contagious.So you seriously need to go wash your hands… and we probably need to disinfect the ladder, and anything else you touch between here and the sink.”

Seongmin sighed, heading towards the bathroom where he could see Minhee fixing his hair.“ _Hyung_ … can I steal the sink for a minute?” he asked.

The older teenager nodded, stepping back so that Seongmin could get in front of him.“What’s up with your eyes?” Minhee asked.

“Wonjinnie- _hyung_ thinks it’s pink eye…” Seongmin replied.Minhee was quick to turn on the water for him, squirting some soap into Seongmin’s hand before he could touch anything in the bathroom.“Thanks, _hyung_ …”

“I just don’t want anything to do with that,” Minhee replied, shaking his head.“Pink eye is no joke…”

Seongmin sighed, washing his hands thoroughly before he headed out to the couch to sit down.He smiled at Woobin, as the elder waved him over to sit.“ _Yah_ … Wonjinnie said you have pink eye…” Woobin commented, as he gently pulled Seongmin down to sit next to him.“It’s already in both eyes?”

“I woke up with it like this,” Seongmin replied, nodding as he leaned against the older man’s shoulder and closed his eyes.“My eyes hurt…”

“ _Aigoo_ … poor baby,” Woobin commented, running his hand through Seongmin’s hair.“Is manager- _hyung_ going to take you to the doctor this morning?”

“I dunno… Leni- _hyung_ was going to talk to him,” Seungmin replied.He couldn’t help relaxing as Woobin massaged the back of his neck, nearly falling asleep again sitting next to the older man.

“Let me see, Seongmin- _ah_ …”Seongmin looked up at the sound of their manager’s voice, sighing as the man leaned down to look at his eyes more closely.“ _Aish_ … go get dressed.We’re going to take you to get that checked out.”

Seongmin nodded, making himself get up and head back into his room to change out of his pajamas.Seongmin really didn’t like the idea of having to go to the eye doctor; while he wore contact lenses on a regular basis, it freaked him out to have anyone else get too close to his eyes.It had taken a _lot_ of convincing the previous morning for the stylist _noonas_ at their magazine shoot to allow him to put his colored contacts in himself.

“You aren’t going to school?” Hyeongjun asked, as Seongmin came back out to the living room a few moments later in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, rather than his school uniform.

“The _hyungs_ think that I have pink eye,” Seongmin replied, shaking his head.“Manager- _hyung_ is going to take me to the eye doctor to get my eyes looked at.”

“Hyeongjun- _ah_ , leave the _maknae_ alone,” Serim commented, as the leader came down the hall.“Seongmin- _ah_ , manager- _hyung_ managed to get an appointment for you with the optometrist this morning, but we need to leave now if you’re going to make it on time.”

***

“Okay… you can sit back now,” the doctor commented, as he moved the lamp away from Seongmin’s face once he’d finished examining both of Seongmin’s eyes.“Your eyes are definitely infected… based on what I’m seeing, I’m fairly certain that it’s bacterial conjunctivitis.You wear contacts, correct?”

“Usually,” Seongmin replied.“I guess I’m going to have to throw away the pair I was wearing…”

“I’d recommend replacing the case you use as well,” the doctor replied.“I’m assuming you wore your lenses yesterday?”

“No… the last time I wore those was Monday,” Seongmin replied, shaking his head.“We had a photoshoot for a magazine yesterday… I had worn my glasses to school because I woke up late, so I only ended up wearing the colored lenses the stylists had for me yesterday.”

“Colored lenses?”The doctor moved over to his computer, typing some notes into Seongmin’s file as they talked.“Were these new colored lenses, or had you worn them before?”

“New.They were a color that I hadn’t worn before,” Seongmin replied, shaking his head.“When I put them in, I was taking them out of a sealed package… I washed my hands before I took them out, and I was the only one to touch them.”

“He doesn’t let anyone else put his contact lenses in,” Serim added, from where the leader had been sitting in the corner of the room.Seongmin had insisted on the leader staying in the room with him, mostly because he knew that if the doctor wanted to put eye drops or anything in his eyes he would need someone’s hand to hold.

“Do you remember what brand the lenses were, by any chance?” the doctor asked.“Or do you possibly still have them?”

“I don’t… they weren’t comfortable, so I threw them away after the shoot,” Seongmin replied, shaking his head.“They kind of itched…”

The doctor typed something into his computer, pulling up an image that Seongmin vaguely recognized as the packaging that he’d opened the previous afternoon.“Does this look familiar?”

“That’s them…” Seongmin replied, nodding.

“This brand was recalled earlier this week.They’ve been implicated in a fairly large outbreak of bacterial eye infections in the past few weeks…” the doctor replied, sighing.“We’ll need to take a sample of the discharge from your eyes, just to be sure, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that you’ve probably got the same bacterial infection as the other patients.We’ll go ahead and start you on the antibiotic drops this morning.I definitely still want you to throw away your most recent pair of contacts and the case, in case we’re wrong about the origin of the infection.And no contacts at all until you finish the antibiotic drops.”

“It’s very contagious, isn’t it?” Serim asked.

“Extremely,” the doctor replied.“You’re lucky that he’s the only one in your apartment to have it… everyone needs to be very careful for the next few days, and make sure that you are all washing your hands regularly.And you’ll need to wash his bedding and anything else that might have come into contact with the bacteria in hot water when you get home.”

“I’ll make sure that gets done… what about rehearsing?” Serim asked.

“As long as he’s feeling up to it, I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t rehearse,” the doctor replied.“It will be even more important to make sure that you aren’t touching your eyes or sharing towels with anyone else during rehearsals, and you’ll need to wash your hands frequently, Seongmin- _ssi_.I’m also going to suggest over the counter eye drops and cold compresses to help relieve your symptoms, Seongmin- _ssi_ … they won’t help with the infection, but they will help with the swelling and discomfort until the antibiotic drops have a chance to work.So giving him breaks to use the eye drops or sit with the compresses on his eyes will be necessary, as well.If he shows signs of any other infections you’ll want to make sure that you take him to the doctor immediately…”

“Other infections…?” Seongmin asked softly.

“It’s fairly common for patients with conjunctivitis to also have some type of respiratory infection… it’s more common in viral conjunctivitis, but it can happen with the bacterial version as well,” the doctor explained.“Conjunctivitis can be caused by the same viruses and bacteria as many other common infections… it is possible to spread the infection to other parts of the body without realizing it.”

“We’ll be sure to keep a close eye on him for the next few days,” Serim replied.

“Good.At this point, we just need to get those samples for lab verification, and we’ll go ahead and do the first dose of antibiotics here in the office before you leave,” the doctor replied, gathering the necessary supplies out of a cabinet.“We’ll get the samples first, and then I’ll go get those eye drops.”

Seongmin nodded, immediately starting to feel a little nervous at the idea of having anyone else getting near his eyes.“ _Peongmini_ … do you want me to hold your hand?” Serim asked, moving so that he could put a hand on Seongmin’s shoulder.It was clear that the leader had already figured out that he was getting anxious at the thought of having the doctor actually touching his eyes.

“Please…”

Seongmin was thankful for the leader, as the older man moved so that he could stand next to Seongmin’s chair and hold his hand as the doctor carefully swabbed inside his eye lid.It wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as Seongmin had thought it might be, but he still couldn’t help being nervous about the eye drops that were still to come

“If you hold still while the doctor is putting in the eye drops, I’ll buy you a yogurt drink on the way back to the dorm,” Serim promised, once the doctor was gone.“We’re going to have to do this a lot for the next few days…”

“Don’t remind me,” Seongmin whined, closing his eyes.“This sucks… I’m never wearing cheap lenses again…”

“We’ll make sure that the stylists know to be more careful in the future… it’ll be a while before we have to worry about that, though,” Serim reassured.“You won’t be wearing lenses for a couple of weeks.”

Seongmin looked up as the doctor came back in with the vial of eye drops, instantly squeezing Serim’s hand a little tighter without even realizing it.“Right… we’ll go ahead and do the first round of drop here in the office, just to make sure there’s no allergic reaction,” the doctor commented, as he closed the door.“It’s two drops in each eye, every two to three hours.In a couple of days, you can start to extend the length of time between doses _if_ the infection is starting to clear up.We still might need to change the specific antibiotic or extend the treatment past the usual seven days, depending on those lab results, but we’ll start you off with the standard treatment plan for the moment.”

“I’ll make sure he uses the eye drops properly,” Serim replied.

“Alright, Seongmin- _ssi_ … let’s get these drops in.Go ahead and tilt your head back…”Seongmin did as the doctor instructed, gripping Serim’s hand a little tighter when the doctor gently pulled down his eyelid to administer the first set of drops.“This might sting a little, but it’s important that you keep up with the drops once you start them.”

The drops weren’t horrible, but they weren’t exactly pleasant, either.Seongmin was thankful when the doctor finally got the last drop into his eyes, and he was able to relax again.“I’m going to send you home with a second bottle of the drops, just in case.You can use over the counter drops between doses, but give the antibiotics some time to work before you use anything else.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Serim replied.

“We’ll let those drops work for a few minutes, just to make sure there’s no adverse reaction, and then you’ll be free to go home.I’ll make sure that I have a note for your school in with the paperwork as well.”

“How long do I have to miss school?” Seongmin asked.

“It’s best to wait until you’ve been symptom-free for 24 hours.It might be okay for you to go on Friday, depending on how quickly the antibiotics start to work,” the doctor replied.“If you’re still symptomatic on Friday, have your manager call and we’ll switch you to a stronger antibiotic.”

***

“Do we have to do this?” Seongmin asked, not moving towards where he could see Serim sitting on the couch with the antibiotic eye drops.Even though he knew that he _needed_ the drops, Seongmin was _not_ a fan of the way that the drops burned or the fact that he was reliant on his _hyungs_ to put the drops in his eyes for him.He had nearly had a panic attack when Serim had done the first round of drops earlier that day, even though he knew that Serim wasn’t trying to hurt him.

“I know it’s hard, _aegi_ , but we have to keep up with the drops to get rid of the infection,” Serim replied, motioning for the boy to come sit next to him on the couch.“It’s only going to take a minute, and then it will be over…”

Seongmin wanted to turn around and head back down the hall towards his room, but Woobin stood behind him, blocking his opportunity to run away.“But it’s going to burn…” he began.

“Your eyes are hurting all the time right now… if we keep up with the eye drops, though, that part will go away faster,” Woobin replied.“Come on, _aegi_ … you’re just going to end up working yourself up into a panic attack…”

Seongmin let Woobin gently push him forward, towards where Serim was sitting.“Is it time for his meds again?” Jungmo asked, as the man came into the room from the kitchen.“Do you want me to hold your hands this time, _Peongmini_?”

“Please…” Seongmin replied, as Woobin guided him to sit on the couch next to Serim.The leader was quick to guide Seongmin to lay down, with his head in the leader’s lap so that it would be easier to put the drops in.“I hate this…”

“It’ll be over soon,” Serim reassured.“Putting these drops in is the only way to speed up the healing process… I know it’s uncomfortable, but it’s better than your eyes hurting for two or three weeks straight, right?”

“I guess…” Seongmin sulked, as Jungmo took his hands and held them down by his waist, so that he wouldn’t be able to bring them up to his face until Serim was finished.

“I’ll make it quick, I promise,” Serim replied.

Seongmin couldn’t help squeezing Jungmo’s hands tightly as he felt Serim holding his right eye open, trying not to think too much about what was coming.Thankfully, the leader made sure to get both drops into his eye in one go, before letting Seongmin close it.“Two down, two to go,” Jungmo commented.“You can do it, _aegi._ ”

Serim was thankfully faster with the drops for his left eye, and a moment later Seongmin found himself being pulled into Woobin’s lap to be cuddled as Serim went to put the drops away.“There… and now you’re done for a few hours,” Woobin commented, reaching up to scratch at Seongmin’s scalp.

“Do we really have to do them while we’re at rehearsal, too?” Seongmin whined, curling into the older man’s side.“They burn, and they make my vision all blurry afterwards…”

“You can take a few minutes to rest after we do them, until your vision clears up,” Woobin replied.“It’s better this way, _aegi_ … you know that.”

Seongmin sighed, pouting.“But it’s annoying…” he whined softly.

“And conjunctivitis isn’t annoying?” Jungmo asked.“You’ll be back to normal faster if you let us keep doing this like we’re supposed to…”

Seongmin couldn’t help pouting, although he knew that his _hyungs_ were right; he needed the eye drops, and they were already starting to help - Seongmin’s eyes were significantly less swollen than they had been that morning, and although they were still hurting and producing a lot of gunk it was noticeably less than it had been that morning.

“Just give it a few days, _aegi_.I promise you, it’s going to be worth it in the end,” Woobin replied.“Come on… I know where there are some M&Ms hidden in the kitchen.”


End file.
